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VOICE VERSUS NOISE ... FEAR VERSUS FAITH

We
give our best only when we operate from that space within our souls called ‘Faith’.
When we operate from there, we come about confident, authentic. And this: courageous
despite a quaking heart!

On the other hand, when
we operate from that space in our hearts called ‘Fear’, we cannot give our best…
We come about diffident, not authentic.

My friend, Ajit, was
telling a group of our P.D. students this evening: “We all have our voices and
noises within us. Voice is ours; it comes from deep within… Noise is not ours…
It comes from outside. So, we need to learn, early in life, to recognize as to which
is our voice from inside and which is the noise from outside. Once you do that,
you begin to operate from that zone called ‘Yourself’… Your self-confidence is the
reflection of that self-expression. Discovering yourself is discovering your
voice.”

Two days ago, I had
asked one of the participants the question: “Why do you want to be a school
teacher?” This 30-year-old had done her schooling from Lucknow’s famed school, ‘La
Martiniere’. She had been a bright student. Later, she completing B.Sc., M.Sc.
and B.Ed. She had been excellent in all these. Still, something was not going
right for her… Whenever she was asked to give a Demo lecture, she would come
back crest-fallen. The authorities had rejected her performance… not her as a
person. But, she had taken it as a rejection of her personality… “I am
worthless” was what she had taken in… This had kept her caged as a victim…

When I had asked this
bright woman the question, “Why do you want to be a school teacher?” I got this
reply: “In Lucknow, if you are a B.Ed., you can apply for a High-school teacher’s
job till you are 40!”

I was shocked to hear
that! She was thirty and hoped to find a school-teacher’s job because someone
had told her, “If you are ‘qualified’, you can be a teacher!”

“Are you sure, that’s
the only reason?” I probed, “Or, is there any other reason?”

She thought for a while
and said, meekly, “I think there is no other reason, Sir.”

I said, “Madam, that is
not a compelling reason to become a good High-school teacher. Even if it gets you
a job, it will be only a ‘job’. You will work there for your financial security…
always worried about losing your job. You need to find a deeper reason why you
want to be among the young school-students… You need a shift in your attitude,
a paradigm shift.”

I immediately gave her
a checklist: “Do I love teaching? Am I passionate… Do I feel excited when I
think of teaching profession? Do I love being with young students? Do I long to
influence them, impact their lives? Do I see great joy in the thought of being
a part of their success stories…as a mentor, a guide, a coach, a friend and a
philosopher?”

I told the class, all
over again, the story of Poorna, the 13-year-old tribal girl who had climbed the Mount
Everest. Her mentor (Rahul Bose), too, had challenged her after training her,
just before the final climb: “I will give you the permission to climb the Everest
only if you give me a strong reason why you want to do it.”

Poorna couldn’t offer
the reason when her mentor had asked her. The following day she had to rush to
her village, where her cousin sister (who had always been a driving force in
her life) had delivered twins after a terrible pregnancy. The mother and one
baby died… One baby survived. That was the kind of life for all the tender
teens in their village; and, Poorna’s parents had already found a groom for her
and planned to marry her off. Now, holding her cousin sister’s survived baby in
her hand, Poorna first cried, then became angry… and finally became peaceful…
She came back to her mentor and declared, “Sir, I have found my reason.”

The rest is Poorna’s
gut-wrenching story! I have told this story in my class scores of times to my
own Poornas… And, here, I was telling this to one more Poorna, who wanted to
climb her own Mount Everest…

“Not till you give me a
strong-enough reason why you want to be a good High-school teacher,” I told
her.

Our
thoughts of job security come from our lack, the scarcity mentality… “There is
only so much out there… Only so much ‘scope’ for each of us.”

Is it true? Only ‘so
much’ for each of us… Only so much ‘scope?”

No. It’s operating from
our fear, not faith.

Today, I had shown to
our young ones the iconic interview-scene from the movie ‘3 Idiots’. Raju
(Sharman Joshi), who had brought about that ‘attitude shift’ in him – from fear
to faith… From lack to abundance – yes, he had ended up teaching us a priceless
lesson about fear and faith.

As my friend, Ajit, too,
explained to young ones in our P.D. session today, the ‘noise’, always, comes
from outside - our near and dear ones, the society. When we heed to this ‘noise’,
we operate from fear – the scarcity mentality. We can never, ever feel truly
confident and authentic, when we operate from this space. On the other hand,
the ‘voice’, always, comes from inside – our own hearts and souls. When we heed
to this ‘voice’, we operate from faith – the abundant mentality. We can truly
feel confident and authentic, when we operate from this space.

Ajit had concluded: “Our
personal growth – our Personality Development – can be complete only when we learn
to be ‘adults’… Only when we are ready to act on our inner voices and face the
consequences of our actions.”

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